


Anxiety Angel

by DxTURA



Category: Original Work
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-11
Updated: 2020-02-11
Packaged: 2021-02-27 18:28:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,564
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22670251
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DxTURA/pseuds/DxTURA
Summary: A fallen angel who must kill, but - honestly - doesn't want to.Something fluffy and partially wholesome.





	Anxiety Angel

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys, thanks for reading! I originally finished this piece to submit to a zine, but felt like looking back on it and altering it a bit to start off 2020 with something nice. I hope y'all enjoy it!!

Daedalus wanted this job to be easy. Really, she did. She wanted to sneak into the house of a nine-year old Icarus, run her pretty little scythe down his pretty little neck, and warp back to her home in Nine Circles to claim her title as _Executioner_ from Lady Beelzebub - “Bubzy” for short. She felt she made good progress so far! She hadn’t had a panic attack in the past two hours, nor had she transmit her favorite scythe _noxium_ from the void by pure accident. Things were going well, right?

Wrong.

Instead of sleuthing her way into Icarus’ house, she stood in _front_ of the property and _narrowly_ missed the swings of a 50-year-old man with a two-by-four. He wasn’t very _good_ at holding the blasted thing correctly, but that didn’t stop the bruises on her arm and a scratch from the _ever_ convenient nail that stuck out from atop of the plank. She had to give him some credit.

Giving him credit wouldn’t stop her from taking care of her job, though.

“Damned hellspawn, the lot of you are! Humbledon was a lot nicer before your blasted cult showed up!” He swung at her again, but missed. “What are you demons even _here_ for?! Shouldn’t you be purging the sinners that claim to be saints?!”

“Th-that job is only for r-receptionists, and unfortunately I didn’t g-go to school for that!” Daedalus dodged another swing and reappeared behind him. “I’m sorry, b-but for the sake of my job… I-I have to take Icarus! He is my target!”

“And _he’s_ my son who only has this year to live, don’t you _understand_ that?”

She wanted to point out that she asked Lady Bubzy the same question, but felt it was too late to stop the chase now.

Rather than dodging the piece of wood _yet again_ , Daedalus took this time to parry after her twin-bladed scythe appeared in her hands. She knocked him into the balcony’s stairsteps and took the time to twirl her weapon like a helicopter propeller. Or a mechanical hand fan with just enough buttons pressed.

At first her movements just looked weird and silly, but it only took a few seconds before a purple powder fumigated the area; she restricted the movements to only one hand, while her other was immediately slapped over her nose and mouth.

Though her voice was muffled, she still spoke out to him. “I-I’m sorry sir, I understand. I t-truly do; however, I must complete my d-duty - even if that means g-getting through _you_!”

The purple mist congregated, and soon formed an arrow aiming directly at the man’s face.

Dae took one deep breath and stopped spinning; she then cried out, with a cracked and wavering voice, “ _nox runo!_ ”

Even though it _seemed_ logical for the man to step out of the arrow’s harm, it didn’t stop the mystifying item from exploding in the air and covering his entire body. He didn’t think much of it, at first; maybe it was just some sort of confetti bomb that the kids used to play pranks.

Truth be told, that was probably his last thought too before passing out.

Daedalus didn’t just _let_ him fall against the stairs, though. She stepped forward with swiftness and caught him, dragged him up the rest of the way, and sat him atop of the rocking chair that was next to one of the house’s windows. She adjusted the man’s slumped nature (just a little, anyway), pickpocketed for the keys, and wrestled with the lock to let her inside.

The door, though with some difficulty, finally opened and revealed a small groove in the infrastructure that led to a small living room and three closed doors. There were a couple of neat little furniture designs and shelving placement, but Dae _really_ couldn’t stay here for long and admire this little view.

She came here to get a job done, after all.

In the midst of her scuffling about, Dae heard a muffled voice coming from one of the doors. She froze; was there someone else in the house?

She clutched her scythe tight, and noiselessly inched around the house some more. Which door it coming from? This house was so oddly designed - were all the houses like this? Dae wasn’t going to lie, it felt like something was going to jump out at her and - ironically - it made her skin crawl even more than fighting off that man did.

She heard rustling come from one door: the door to the far right. That’s where the voice was coming from, it absolutely _had_ to be.

Dae crouched against the door and put her ear next to it. Any minute now…

“--om? Mom? Is that…”

Painful, powerful coughs interrupted the voice’s words and Dae shuddered. That was him. There was no doubting that Icarus _wasn’t_ in the premises, and -- seeing as Dae couldn’t detect anyone else being nearby -- the mom wasn’t home to give her anymore trouble, either.

So, that then begged the question: Just _how_ would Daedalus end his life?

She could barge in, cut his head off, and return with the head in her hands. Nah, too bloody. She’d probably faint from the gruesome gushing the human fluid would do.

She could take him to the outskirts of Humbledon and let the wolves deal with him. No, too risky. Any earlier or later could actually risk her losing the soul before she could take it home to Lady Bubzy.

Then again, there was always the completely _docile_ way.

Yeah… Lady Bubzy was always _dramatic_ with her words, but she was a very big believer in “kill however you feel like.” It didn’t have to be bloody; she remembered some of her colleagues going through some other torturous ways that - truth be told - she wasn’t into, but still got the job done.

The gears in Dae’s mind turned: A human without a soul is essentially dead, so why not take his soul?

Yes, that’s perfect; she wouldn’t have to further poison the kid or feel obligated to clean up bloodstains later. No, this was _much_ simpler and much cleaner.

Oh, but she couldn’t just _make_ the kid wait. If she did so any longer, he’d probably try to hide under the impression that an intruder _was_ in his home. He wouldn’t be _wrong_ in his assumption, but she definitely didn’t want to make this job anymore of a hassle than it had already become.

Dae finally stood up straight; she snapped her fingers, unsummoned her scythe into the underworld again, and simply… knocked on the door.

Icarus heaved, before speaking once more. “Mom, it _is_ you, isn’t it? You don’t-” Cough. “You don’t have to knock before entering, you know.”

Daedalus finally opened the door, revealing herself to the brown haired boy with dying, grey eyes. She stammered, “U-um, actually… I’m not your mom…”

Icarus, who was leaning against his pillows, immediately shot up (and winced in pain soon after).

“Who are you?” His voice grew much quieter, but he wasn’t as fearful as she thought he’d be.

“Oh, I’m a f-friend of your parents.” Daedalus lied through her teeth, but the kid seemed convinced. “The door was open, s-so I walked in to m-make sure you were okay.”

“My mom has friends?” He coughed into his hand, “I thought she was just a loner all day.”

Daedalus wasn’t sure if she should feel sorry or concerned, so all she did was muster a shrug.

“I-I’m sure your mom knows many _other_ people other than I, young one.” She twiddled with some of her hair and adjusted her cloak’s collar. “She didn’t tell me that her young one was sickly, s-so I, um, came to see it for myself.”

Icarus seemed to accept that answer. Thank goodness. Dae wasn’t sure if she could take a super inquisitive kid.

“So, the door was open? Are my parents okay?”

“Oh, o-o-of course! Sorry, I didn’t make that clear.” Daedalus cleared her throat. “Your parents are fine, don’t worry. Y-your dad is just… sleeping outside, I-I’m sure he just forgot to close the door on his way out.”

“Oh.. Yeah, dad _does_ do that a lot, huh?” Icarus relaxed against the fluffy pillows behind him. “S-sorry if I made a lot of noise and ruined your day. The walls are so hollow, so I can understand if I scared you guys.”

“N-no, it’s okay!” Daedalus’ face started flushing. Oh golly, now she _really_ felt bad for the kid. She had to focus; she couldn’t lose sight of the goal. “Um… anyways, why don’t you close your eyes and head back to bed? I’ll lock up the house for you on the way out.”

“Well, I would, but everything hurts.” Icarus looked down at his clenched fists. “I cough, and I feel like throwing up. My nose is always running. Some days, blood comes out of my mouth and then I have to call mom to clean it up for me. I can’t move a lot anymore...”

Well, that would explain why Daedalus could easily get into the house. Her stomach, unfortunately, lurched with every word he said.

“I haven’t slept for three days now. I’m very tired, but I can’t do much about it.” Icarus yawned. “Sorry I’m making you sad, miss. You should be on your way now, huh?”

Daedaluspursed her lips together. Damn that Lady Bubzy; if she just made Daedalus try to fight against some Angel of God or a beast or something, it wouldn’t have been so heartbreaking. Now she had to deal with this?

Palms laced in sweat, Dae swallowed some apprehension and finally decided to break the small silence.

“W-w-well… what if I, um, told you that I could, u-uh… I could fix that?”

Icarus jerked his head up.

“You could put me to sleep?” He then frowned, “Wait… I hope you don’t mean some dumb, baby bedtime story.”

“N-no! No, not at all.” Dae frantically waved her hands in the air, “I-I just, um, I come from a magical village. Far outside of Humbledon, you s-see. I could put you to sleep easily!”

Dae tugged on her cloak’s collar. ‘ _And maybe I won’t feel so bad about killing him.’_

“Oh _wow_ , that’s so cool, miss!!” Icarus leaned forward; his eyes gleamed so much that it was actually kind of off putting for her. “Are there magicians out there that could really do that?! I’ve never been out of Humbledon, so I dunno these things.”

“Well, yes. I suppose you could say I’m one of them,” Dae scratched her cheek, “Um, so. If you would get comfortable for me, I could put you to sleep and be on m-my way!”

“Okay!”

Icarus leaned back – slow and steady – and sunk back into his bed sheets. In fact, he was so eager that his cries for pain subdued themselves into small winces. Dae was almost impressed.

She couldn’t drown in admiration, though. She should get to work before Icarus had a chance to connect the dots.

Her hands swayed to the left, then to the right; it wasn’t like before, where Dae had to form it into an arrow before she ended up in a pickle. Her face was prickled with sweat, and her hands did shake, but it was nothing like the fight with the father. She just needed to stay focused.

Within seconds, Dae created a small _orb_ of purple, solidified the stuff in her palm, and then placed her hand against the boy’s forehead. He giggled.

“It tickles...”

“That’s... the first time I’ve _ever_ heard someone describe it as such.” She massaged his forehead. “This should p-put you out for more than a couple of hours. Maybe even a day.”

“A day of sleep sounds nice...” Icarus yawned. “I can’t wait to wake up and tell mom and dad about the nice magician that came to help me sleep.”

Dae flinched, but pretended not to hear him. “Are you ready to drift off?”

Icarus was a sunken ship in his blanket-filled sea. “Yeah.”

Dae inhaled, closed her eyes, and then spoke the words that she spoke before. “ _nox runo_.”

Icarus uttered one last comment, but she couldn’t make it out of his sleep-drunk state. She tried not to pay _too_ much attention to it.

Dae collapsed against the edge of the bed after she made sure that the boy was sound asleep. Her mind drifted to everything they had ever talked about, and – she couldn’t lie to herself – the guilt that burled up before was like an uppercut to the gut now.

She was almost at the finish line, she just had to take his soul. That’s all she needed to do. The scythe wasnext to her now, she just needed to place the edge against his head and chant _anima clepo_. That’s all she needed to do.

Yet, despite her recuperation, she just _couldn’t_ get her head back into the game. There was just something about Icarus that made her want to burst into tears.

Sure him being ill was a primary cause, but there was just something about the boy she couldn’t understand. Why was he so nice to her? Why did he just _allow_ her to come into his house and pay no mind? Any other family would’ve tried to murder her by now. Humbledon would’ve been after her like birds on worms. Cats with rats.

But Icarus was different. Icarus would’ve made her some food and asked her about her day before she went in for the kill.

She slapped her cheeks and shook her head. No more thinking. Only doing.

Dae yanked the scythe from the foot of the bed and rose it high enough to where both edges weren’t touching her face _or_ the wall. Her heart punched her rib cage, her breath short, but there was no more time to delay. She had to cast!

“ _anima--_!”

Her words were interrupted by the sudden disappearance of her trusted weapon. Her grabby gestures caught nothing but the air in the room, and – though it took some time to notice – hot tears drenched her cheeks.

She couldn’t do it. She couldn’t take the boy’s life.

Dae slumped against the bedside and buried her face into the sheets. She couldn’t figure out how she was going to bring this back up to Lady Bubzy, nor was she sure how her colleagues were going to react with her arriving empty-handed. Would she be banished? Would Lady Bubzy off her and call it a day? If Dae thought anymore about the consequences, she’d find herself unable to breathe and paler than a powdered makeover.

Though, that led her mind wandering further: what if she _didn’t_ return home? What if she left the Nine Circles for good? What if, in spite of it all, she simply gave up on this twisted, fame-ridden path and went her own way?

Yeah, that’s a _great_ idea! If she did that, she could take care of Icarus. She could find out what illness he had, what caused it, and let him live the rest of his days in peace!

Dae couldn’t stay in Humbledon, though. She was a fallen angel, she was unwanted, and all the ruckus she caused was sure to have alert _some_ form of security.

It was time for her to think of a place to go, and _fast_.

  
  



End file.
